Posted on 03/29/2011 9:52:18 AM PDT by MplsSteve
Hi everyone! It's time again for my "What Are You Reading?" thread.
As you know, I consider Freepers to be among the more well-read of those of us on the Internet. I like to find out what all of you are reading these days.
It can be anything...a technical journal, a NY Times best seller, a classic work of fiction, a trashy pulp novel. In short, it can be anything.
However, please do not defile this thread by posting "I'm reading this thread". it became really unfunny a long time ago.
I'll start. I'm about 15% of the way thru "Henry Clay: The Essential American" by David & Jeanne Heidler. Many books have been written on Henry Clay but this one seems to be the most comprehensive. At times, the authors can be a little long-winded - but all in all, it's a good book about one of the giants of the early 19th Century.
Well, what are YOU reading?
Thanks, I just added that to my library list. I look at books at The Salvation Army sometimes, but they’ve never had any Thomas Sowell!
You would like “Paul Revere’s Ride.” (The recent history book, not the Longfellow poem.) John Adams is in it, talking a lot.
Life.
A little lite reading here.
Total Resistance{ Swiss army guide to Guerrilla warfare}
Special Forces Guerrilla warfare Manual....
Plus the latest issue of Military History Quarterly
It shows how to make a radio from junk around the house.
You can actually make radio parts from scratch.
I've made radio parts from wire, foil, safety pins, old pennies, razor blades, 2 liter bottles with salt water inside, a noisemaker like you would find in a greeting card, pencil lead, fool's gold, etc.
Unless you live 2 blocks from a radio station, you'll probably have to mix these parts with manufactured radio parts.
However, I've heard stations 200+ miles away with a razor blade as a detector. I've clearly heard stations over 200 miles away with a noisemaker for an earphone.
None of these radios used a battery or electricity. The only electricity was the tiny amount of electricity coming from the radiowave itself (a few millionths of a volt).
This is a very good book that sifts throught the Hohokum. Mogollon and Anasazi history and tracks it to the current Hopi, Pueblo and other southwest peoples.The Period is 500 ad to present. Most of what is known is very recent, last 50 years or so.
It must certainly be controversial because he takes on the parochial south west archeological types with great thoughts as to how the history of these people developed. It is well written and is not a dry scholarly work. It is half book and half notes. The notes are sometimes obtuse but sometimes very juicy as a fellow archeologist is pilloried.
On the shelf to follow is the Architecture of Chaco Canyon also by Lekson, next up
I sat down last Saturday begin Winds of War by Herman Wouk only to discover I had the sequel War and Remembrance I hope to get it tomorrow
Lee Child - Die Trying
I’m reading “Story Engineering” by Larry Brooks, and making plans to tweak the Great American Novel.
You might also like the Nero Wolf series. I picked up the complete set off a clearance rack cheap. We thoroughly enjoyed them.
My wife has asked me for some of the Midsomer and Nero Wolf books to complement her massive Agatha Christie collection.
What the Bible Says About Covenant by Mont Smith
I’ve never read Nero Wolfe, but I once read the whole “The Saint” series. They were in the Tulsa library.
I generally like to have a few going at the same time, too. My key has been to have one of two or three categories. Like a light fiction, a heavier fiction and a non-fiction. But not two of the same category. After having another little one, I’m lucky to read more than Curious George and Dr. Suess. However, I am slowly working my way through “Decision Points” by George W. I didn’t always agree with him, but it’s obvious he tried to right thing.
“Dupes”
“Shadow Warriors”
“New Lies for Old” by Golitsyn
“The Camp of the Saints” by Raspail
I’m late to this thread (scanning it for good books to read), but have to agree with you about “Nothing to Envy”. I read it a few weeks ago and was so humbled by my absolute ignorance of what the people of North Korea have suffered. I knew on one level that they lived in poverty, but didn’t know what that really meant until I read the book. Poverty in America is a life of wealth compared to North Koreans. But more than the poverty, the mind control disturbed me. They don’t even know their lives aren’t normal. The book grabbed me from the first page. We are so lucky here and I agree with you that everybody should read this book.
added another book to my current reading... went to the library today... picked up a book about the Darwin Award winners... it’s a ridiculous read...
Ours gets a lot of poli-sci, but we're close to DC. I got Black Rednecks, White Liberals and a couple of others, whose titles escape me, there.
I paid retail for it. I hate having to do that! I pay taxes in two counties; the least they can do is have all the books I want in the libraries.
I’ve offered a couple of times to buy books FOR the library, frex, they’re missing the central volume of Jean Plaidy’s Catherine de Medici trilogy, which of course is way out of print. I emailed them that I’d be happy to get a copy online to complete their set, but they didn’t even respond. I think they’re too busy running the free internet cafe. I miss browsing the stacks so much. No one’s ever going to discover Elswyth Thane’s Williamsburg series again, which makes me very sad.
I have “Decision Points” on my desk. Looking forward to reading it.
GWB was a disappointment as POTUS, but I have huge respect for him. I think he is a very decent person. Never has a POTUS been smeared so unfairly the way he was. And yet, he stuck to his guns.
I believe history will be kinder to Bush, especially regarding Iraq. I think the success of the Iraqi democracy is as big a reason for the uprisings as anything.
Otherwise, I’m like you in that I like to read a heavy fiction (Clancy), light fiction (Star Wars), and a non-fiction. The one I pick up each night depends on my mood. I’m kinda shifty, which is probably a character defect.
And, of course, I read the Bible every morning, and sometimes it is the book I pick up at night, especially lately.
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